IRVINE, Calif. – In the start of a trek against the top four teams in the PacWest, the Concordia women's volleyball team delivered in its Wednesday match-up, defeating the Chaminade Silverswords in a five-set battle.
 
"Chaminade is a great team and they got a lot of weapons and I really felt that it was a team effort tonight," said head coach Paula Weishoff. "We set a lot of different people and a lot of people showed up when we needed them to."
 
Four players notched double-digit kills with Jaclyn Brown leading the way with 15 and collecting a season-high 20 digs. Riley Gill also featured a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. Opposites Jordan Mineer and Patience O'Neal had 13 and 12 kills respectively.
 
The Eagles continued its reign as the PacWest team leader in blocks, out-blocking the Silverwords 16-4 and holding them to a .171 hitting clip. The individual league leader Hannah Tostado contributed with nine blocks of her own while Mackenzie Jensen rotated in with seven. With her performance in this match, Tostado has cracked the top 10 for block assists in a single season at 101 and is one block shy of entering for total blocks.
 
"It was 80-77, they out dug us by three and we out blocked them, but it was a battle from the beginning back and forward and back and forward" added Weishoff. "In that fifth set we just came out and got on a run and we took it home and it was just really nice, everyone was just determined."
 
In a battle of runs to begin the match, Concordia prevailed early, doubling up on Chaminade at 12-6 after three-straight blocks by the tandem of Tostado and O'Neal. There was no looking back as the Eagles claimed set one on a 9-3 run.
 
CUI got off to a slow start but battled its way back to a 14-11 lead off of tough serving from Tostado. Tied up at 19-all, Brown and Tostado each put down kills while Chaminade had back-to-back errors to put separation between the teams.
 
After trailing 22-14 in the third, Concordia never backed down, going on a 9-2 run to creep within one. Despite strong serves from libero Julia DenBoer, the Silverswords earned the finish at 25-23.
 
Chaminade ramped up its serving in set four, putting the Eagles out of system. The Green and Gold were able to hold steady, pulling within one at 16-15. The Silverswords pushed to the end, forcing Concordia into its seventh fifth set match of the season.
 
The defense came through for the Eagles in the fifth, digging up some heavy CUH attacks and sending them back at net, to put CUI up 7-4. Each team sided out well from there, not going on runs, ultimately with Concordia finishing it off with a kill from Jensen to get the 15-11 victory.
 
Next Up: Concordia returns to the hardwood on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m., taking on Hawai'i Pacific before facing Hawai'i Hilo on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. For the full women's volleyball schedule, click here.